1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to a virtualization-based snapshot boot apparatus and method. More particularly, the present invention relates to a virtualization-based snapshot boot apparatus and method, which implement technology for loading only a part of a snapshot image and booting a system using virtualization technology, thus shortening the time required to boot the system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, it takes a lot of time for a computer to complete system initialization from the time at which power is applied to the computer and the computer starts to boot. Therefore, there is a problem in that, even after power has been applied, a user who desires to execute a specific application must wait for the completion of booting so as to run the application. In particular, in the case of an embedded device such as a smart phone, a Portable Multimedia Player (PMP), or a vehicle navigation device which has been widely used, a user may feel inconvenienced when he or she cannot use the device immediately after power has been applied.
In particular, in order for embedded devices that were programmed in the level of firmware in the past and that have a relatively low speed to boot an operating system such as current Linux or Windows Mobile, booting time is further lengthened, and thus efforts to optimize booting speed have been made.
Meanwhile, the status information of a computer system at a specific time is recorded in a conventional snapshot image, which has been used to restore the status of the system at the time of operation to the stored status. Further, such a snapshot image has been used to minimize standby power and shorten booting time. Recently, even in the field of embedded systems, as a large-scale platform such as the Android platform has been used, snapshot booting technology has been utilized to shorten the lengthened booting time. Korean Patent Application Publication No. 2012-0062968 loads all memory status information upon booting and does not specify methods of storing the status information of the operating system or the like, thus having limitations in the optimization of booting speed. Therefore, there is a requirement for a memory virtualization-based snapshot boot apparatus and method, which access the status information of the system for each type, load only status information other than the memory information of a snapshot image, and then boot the system.